astro3

Question 1

what are the seasonal patterns in uranus

Answer 1

42 yrs of continuous

daylight followed by 42 yrs of darkness at poles

Question 2

what causes the extreme seasonal patterns in uranus

Answer 2

Probably caused by a major collision when/right

after it formed

Question 3

what drives a swirl of storms in uranus

Answer 3

The huge difference in temperature between the long illuminated &
dark sides

Question 4

how many rings of uranus are known

Answer 4

It has 13 known rings.

Question 5

describe the rings uranus

Answer 5

Narrow (a few km) and made of very dark particles, which vary in size from
μm to a fraction of a metre.

Question 6

what are the 5 main moons of uranus

Answer 6

Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel,

Titania, and Oberon.

Question 7

what is the thing that happens when aarav calls neel for 2 min (Mom And Uncle Talk Only)

Answer 7

Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel,

Titania, and Oberon. 5 main moons of uranus

Question 8

when were the moons of uranus discovered

Answer 8

 Discovered only in 18th century by Herschel

Question 9

which planet is very similar to uranus in size and composition

Answer 9

neptune

Question 10

describe neptune in comparison to uranus

Answer 10

More massive due to larger density
 More intense blue color (not known why, CH4 may
have only a minor contribution)

Question 11

wind speeds in neptune

Answer 11

Its winds are the fastest in the Solar system,

reaching up to ~2,500 km/h!

Question 12

what is the interior of neptune made of

Answer 12

ices and rock

Question 13

what causes the wind speeds in neptune

Answer 13

must be due

to an internal energy (heat?) source

Question 14

describe neptune in comparison to uranus in terms of radiation lol

Answer 14

Unlike Uranus which only radiates 1.1
× as
much energy as it receives from the Sun,
Neptune radiates ~2.6…2.7× as much energy
as it receives from the Sun

Question 15

when was neptune discovered

Answer 15

Discovered in 19th century after theoretical

calculations

Question 16

describe neptune’s distance from the sun in comparison to pluto

Answer 16

Although Pluto’s mean distance from the Sun is
greater, its orbit is so eccentric that for about 20
years of each revolution Pluto is actually nearer the
Sun than is Neptune!

Question 17

describe the ring system of neptune

Answer 17

faint and fragmented
ring system discovered in 1984. May consist of ice particles coated
with other materials, which
probably gives them a reddish hue

Question 18

when was pluto discovered

Answer 18

1930, and From its surface Sun is just a slightly brighter star

Question 19

describe the orbit of pluto

Answer 19

Eccentric orbit, also inclined to the ecliptic plane.

Question 20

The ecliptic plane is defined as

Answer 20

the imaginary plane containing the Earth’s orbit around the sun

Question 21

zenith

Answer 21

the point in the sky or celestial sphere directly above an observer.

Question 22

meridian

Answer 22

is the half of an imaginary polar great circle or great ellipse on the Earth’s surface, a coordinate line terminated by the North Pole and the South Pole.

Question 23

tell me again what’s the meridian

Answer 23

A meridian is the locus connecting points of equal longitude

Question 24

tell me about the rotation of pluto

Answer 24

it rotates on its “side” in its orbital plane

Question 25

what is pluto made of

Answer 25

ice and rock

Question 26

how many moons does pluto have

Answer 26

Has 5 moons

Question 27

what is pluto’s surface made of

Answer 27

Its surface has plains mostly composed of nitrogen ice, also mountains
of water ice.

Question 28

what’s under pluto’s thick ice crust

Answer 28

It may harbor a liquid H2O ocean under a thick ice crust

Question 29

what is the atmosphere of pluto like

Answer 29

Has a tenuous, thin, yet hazy atmosphere made of N2, CH4 & CO

Question 30

what happened to the vast majority of hydrogen & helium gas never became part of any planet

Answer 30

They were cleared away by radiation & solar wind from the young Sun.  Solar wind = stream of charged particles continually emitted from the Sun

Question 31

was the solar wind was much stronger when the Sun was young

Answer 31

yes because the young Sun spun very fast (conserve angular momentum!)  much stronger magnetic field than today

Question 32

what did clearing of the gas in the nebula do in the nebular theory

Answer 32

sealed the compositional fate of the planets

Question 33

describe the formation of the jovian planets

Answer 33

began as large icy planetesimals, which
captured H, He & other gases from the Solar nebula.
 Their gravity grew stronger as they accumulated matter, allowing
them to capture even more matter (positive feedback)
 Each Jovian planet became surrounded by its own
(micro)accretion disk of gas, spinning in the same
direction as the planet’s rotation.

Question 34

describe the formation of the moons of the jovian planets

Answer 34

accreted from icy planetesimals within these disk ended up
with nearly circular orbits in the same direction as the planet’s
rotation and lying in (or close to) the planet’s equatorial plane

Question 35

what happened as the jovians planets formed

Answer 35

they quickly cleared away their orbital

path inside the Solar nebula

Question 36

Formation of terrestrial planets

Answer 36

“Solid seeds of metal
& rock in the inner Solar nebula grew through the
accretion process.
 Microscopic particles stick together through electrostatic forces
 As they
grow larger, their surface area ↑ ↑
 easier to make contact with others!
 Particles grew in mass until they became planetesimals, where
gravity dominated in the accretion process
 For larger planetismals, collisions were increasingly destructive
 These planetesimals eventually assembled into terrestrial planets,
which are relatively small in size because rock & metal made up only a
small amount of the materials in the Solar nebula”

Question 37

Origin of asteroids & comets

Answer 37

"Asteroids = rocky leftover planetesimals of the inner Solar system           Comets = icy leftover planetesimals of the outer Solar system                                              The solar wind cleared the
leftover gas, but not the
leftover planetesimals!
 Leftover icy planetesimals
between Jovian planets either
collided with the Jovian
planets or were gravitationally
flung into the Oort cloud
(hence their random orbits).
Those beyond Neptune’s orbit
remained in the Kuiper belt.
 The nebular theory predicted the
Kuiper belt & Oort cloud 40 years
before their actual observation.                                   "

Question 38

Origin of asteroids & comets (cont’d)

Answer 38

“ Asteroids & comets today represent a small fraction of the leftover
planetesimals. Most were flung out by gravitational encounters but
many collided with planets
→ The huge majority of these collisions
occurred in the first few hundreds of
m of years of our Solar
system’s history
= the Heavy Bombardment
 Brought essential materials from other regions of solar system, e.g. water &
air on Earth
 Impact craters left behind on solid worlds
 Provided a few captured moons
 Most asteroids ended up in the asteroid belt.
 Jupiter’s gravity prevented a planet (Phaeton) from forming there.”

Question 39

the most likely
explanations for most of the exceptions to our general planetary
rules

Answer 39

Random giant impacts